Contests + DX

Certificates won by the CCARC and contest reports

How to work DXPeditions

With literally thousands of other amateurs trying to work the DX station, whether as a new location for an award or just to say they managed it while someone was there on the island or mountain peak or wherever, there is a LOT of competition and believe it or not more power is not always the answer – what you need are three things.

1. Perseverance

2. Patience

and 3. Planning

What I mean by this is you have to be determined to work the station, but if you can find a time when the DX station is actually calling CQ and getting few or no calls back – your call will most likely be received gratefully and given the usual 5-9 report even if in truth you are possibly a 3-2 with them. If you watch the cluster and see that reports of the station on a band are getting less and less – that’s the time to go and listen. You aim to catch them, just before they decide to pack up on that band or mode and change to a different band/mode in search of more contacts. Yes, there’s a lot of luck needed in this approach! I was lucky to be able to work the Clipperton Island DXPedition – TX5K twice this week following this process.

Ed VK2JI – 8th. March 2013.

Upcoming Contests that the CCARC will take part in:

2013 Oceania DX contest – Phone (M1) section.

The CCARC sponsors a plaque in this contest for Top entrant from VK in PHONE Single Operator All Band Low Power category

Latest details from the organisers:

The 2013 Oceania DX contest is now only a few weeks away, with the Phone SSB section on the first weekend in October and the CW section on the second weekend in October. This will be a great opportunity to work a lot of DX stations in the Oceania region, as well as giving your station a test drive for the new DX contest season and the CQ WW contest events later in the year. We are expecting a good turn out from VK, ZL and YB stations, as well as stations from some of the rarer Pacific entities.

The main aim of the contest is to promote HF contacts with stations in the Oceania region. Oceania stations can work other Oceania and non-Oceania stations. Non-Oceania stations can only work Oceania stations.

Final Score: The sum of the QSO points multiplied by the number of prefixes worked (the same prefix can be counted once on each band).

Entry Categories:
Single Operator All Band Low Power (max 100W)
Single Operator All Band High Power
Single Operator Single Band Low Power (max 100W)
Single Operator Single Band High Power
M1 – Multiple Operators and Single Transmitter (only one transmitted signal at any time)
M2 – Multiple Operators and Two Transmitters (no more than two transmitted signals at any time and on different bands)
MM – Multiple Operators and Multiple Transmitters (no more than one transmitted signal at any time on each band)
Shortwave Listener (receive only) All Band

A range of trophies and plaques will be awarded as listed on the web site at http://www.oceaniadxcontest.com/trophies.htm. Certificates will be awarded to the winning stations in each of the categories above – for each continent and country. A participation certificate will also be awarded to every station that makes at least one valid QSO.

The contest committee is pleased to announce that four new plaques will be available for winners of the following categories in the 2013 contest:
– The local New Zealand NZART Branch, DX club, or contest group with the greatest number of single operator entries that each make at least 50 valid QSOs (sponsored by Phil Holliday ZL3PAH)
– Top entrant from South Australia (VK5) in the PHONE Single Operator ALL Band LOW Power category (sponsored by the Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society)
– Top entrant from South Australia (VK5) in the CW Single Operator ALL Band LOW Power category (sponsored by the Adelaide Hills Amateur Radio Society)
– Top entrant from outside Oceania in the PHONE SWL category (sponsored by Patrick Marteville F-59706)

Log Submission Deadline: All logs must be emailed or postmarked NO LATER than 31 October 2013.

More information about the contest, including the detailed rules, is available from the Oceania DX Contest web site at
http://www.oceaniadxcontest.com/ .

Spring VHF/UHF Field Day 2013 – November 23rd-24th.

The CCARC plan to enter two teams this year in the VHF/UHF Spring Field Day with both VK2EH/P and VK2WFD/P being active during the contest.

For details of the contest and its rules please refer to: http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/vhfuhf/

Contact Doug VK2MDC if you are interested in taking part in either the Oceania DX or VHF/UHF FD contest (or both).

Contest Reports

Spring VHF/UHF Field Day 2012 – November 24th.

VK2EH/P – Local operation

As planned VK2EH/P was active on 6m, 2m & 70cm from the start of the contest at noon on Saturday 24th. November. We were spoiled for equipment to be used, especially on the accommodation side with Graham VK2GRA bringing his horse trailer which makes a great radio shack. Some very enthusiastic members were present for the site set-up at Staples Lookout on Woy Woy road at 10:15am. This is a site that we have used before and has a reasonable take off in most directions. All stations were on the air at midday through to 5pm. We had planned to be active for a full 8 hours but activity was very disappointing. Conditions were average but apart from a few stations on 2m there were almost no stations on 6m and 70cm. I even took down one mast to check antenna connectivity on 70cm it was so quiet. When we found the odd one or two stations on 6m & 70cm we exchanged strong signal reports but all said the same – where are the stations this year?

I thank the many operators and visitors (a total of 12) that we had at the station (two being from the general public, who were duly explained what was going on and supplied with WIA flyers). Operators were as follows:

CQ World Wide SSB contest 27th October 2012.

Karen VK2AKB operating VK2AFY

Saturday afternoon and early evening 27th. October we ran up the clubs big station again, this time to make an impact in the CQWW SSB contest. We only ran for about 5 hours but made over 10,000 points. Strangely with this score we won’t come high in the results but we will have the club name and call sign in the tables and the operators, Karen VK2AKB, Peter VK2EHQ, Geoff VK2ZC and myself, have gained some more good contest experience.

The new carpet did help on the acoustics making a much easier task to hear those weak stations calling but the use of headphones improved this even further, allowing operation even when some other people were in the room.

Oceania DX SSB Contest 6-7th. October 2012.

This contest was a HF, non-WARC bands SSB contest, that the club took part in for just the first 3.5 hours or so. It started at 6pm local Saturday and ran for 24 hours but we were packed up and leaving the club rooms before 10pm on the Saturday night before the storm came through. Rod VK2FVRJ, Geoff VK2ZC and myself Ed VK2ARE took part and Bob VK2PEP was there giving moral support.

In the 104 contacts (103 claimable as one call sign we could not get fully) there were a lot of European, Asiatic Russia, US and of course VK/ZL contacts. In the first hour we worked a good number of VK foundation calls which bodes well for the future of this long running contest. Our score was just over 19700 points with the multipliers. At the end of the contest the top stations were hitting one thousand contacts or more which converts into several million points.

The activity in the contest was certainly an eye opener certainly for one operator and we learn something new by every contest we enter, in this case the shack acoustics again gave some problems but hopefully the carpet will be installed before the next contests and we hope that will deaden some of the audio “ringing” issues in the room. Then again we may chose to run with headphones next time.

VK2AFY is far from a big contest station and conditions could have been better if we didn’t have the incoming storm noise but with the busy bands we all enjoyed ourselves and the club call was on-the-air as one of the strongest signals out of NSW or even Australia as we had several pile-ups of stations calling us for over an hour.

Remembrance Day contest 11th.-12th. August 2012.

The club entered the Remembrance day contest just for about 5 hours this year as part of an activity day at the club rooms.

This is a fun contest made more interesting by the fact that the rules were changed this year to have the suffix given, be the number of years since the operator got his licence (or in the case of a club station the number of years since the earliest licensed operator in the team got their licence – in our case that was myself (Ed VK2ARE) with 35 years). Some stations were using just a chronological sequence number and needed to be told about the change, some clubs were using the age of their club which was incorrect but may be added as the rule next year.

I don’t expect we came high up in any points but I completed and sent in our logs as points count towards the state total and it’d be a real shame in NSW lost out by the few points that VK2AFY could add to the total.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable contest with some new operators getting on (and getting the contesting bug).

Winter VHF-UHF Field Day 2012 (June 23rd-24th).

There was no large action for the event this year however all three club call signs were heard during the first few hours of the event. At the start VK2AFY came on from the club rooms testing out the new ICOM IC901H and LFA long Yagi antenna on 2 metres. Then VK2EH/P was active for the afternoon on all bands from 6m to 70cm from near the Oak Cafe at Peats Ridge (traffic noise turned out to be a problem at this location). Finally from about 2:30pm through 4:30pm, VK2WFD/P was active from Staples Lookout on the Woy Woy Road, again on all bands 6m – 70cm.

VK2EH/P finished 9th. and VK2WFD/P finished 12th. in the single operator 8 hour section of the contest.

John Moyle Contest 2012 (17th. – 18th. March)

Following the sterling work performed the previous weekend to get both the HF tri-bander and the new 9 element 2m long Yagi up on the mast, we were ready to go in the John Moyle memorial field day contest. This year saw two operations from the CCARC. VK2EH/P operated on the VHF/UHF bands from Mt. Allyn for the full 24 hours while VK2AFY operated a shorter 6 hr. section from the club rooms.

As the club received its notice of variation to the licence to allow operation at power levels of up to 1KW PEP output as part of the ACMA tests, we had hoped to put out an even bigger signal but unfortunately a rogue switching cable fault stopped us from being able to run Chris VK2YY’s linear so we ran the TS-590S “barefoot” and it worked very well anyway.

There was a very good attendance at the club and whether operating, logging or sitting and discussing Amateur Radio matters in the seminar room while watching the V8s and the F1 practice, it was good to see things happening in and around the club.

VK2AFY managed 164 contacts giving a total of 261 points, while the VK2EH/P effort earned around 1000 points (final totals not yet calculated). See below for where both stations came in their respective sections in the final results.

Pictures:

VK2AFY VK2EH/P

VK2AFY – Chris and Ed operating and logging the HF station, VHF (2m) in the background.

VK2EH/P – The portable group suffered really wintery conditions up at Mt Allyn.

Results:

CCARC station VK2EH/P 2nd in class in John Moyle Field Day.

CCARC station VK2AFY 2nd in class in John Moyle Field Day.

The club station VK2EH/P came 2nd in the 24 hour, multi-operator, Portable, VHF only, Phone only section of this years John Moyle Field Day.

The other club station VK2AFY from the club rooms ran as a training only action for the 6 hour shorter contest but despite that also came 2nd in section in the Multi-operator, 6 hour, home station, All band section.

Well done to both teams and to the people who organise the clubs entry into these contests.

Note: the home station was running “barefoot” without the linear at the time, I wonder if we may have been one place higher with it? Maybe next time?

Summer VHF-UHF Field Day – 12/13th. January 2013

Due to the high temperatures and chance of bush fires on this weekend, the decision was made not to operate portable in the VHF-UHF Fieldday contest and the team instead operated VK2AFY as a “home station” in the contest for a few hours Saturday afternoon from the club rooms.

There was still some set up work to do including installing one temporary mast to take additional 6 metres and 70cm antennas and a rotator.

Set up at the club rooms started at 10am and operation took place from the start at 12 noon through to about 5pm. Logs were sent in to have the club’s call sign listed and to act as a check log for other entries.

John Moyle field day 2013 – March 16-17

Col VK2KCM and Dave VK2JDH operated the club call VK2EH/P in the John Moyle Memorial Field Day contest as part of their annual expedition up to Mt. Allyn on the 16th. and 17th. of March. Although activity on the bands did not seem good Dave & Col managed to improve on last years score (where they came second) scores in 2012 were 72 contacts and 1052 points whereas this year they made 78 contacts and accumulated 1686 points.

WIA National Field Day – April 13th & 14th.

Saturday and Sunday (April 13th & 14th) saw the annual WIA National Field Day. This event celebrates and promotes our great hobby and the Central Coast ARC will be active with two portable stations set up around the Central Coast on the Sunday from 11am to 2pm.

The stations were located at Gosford Waterfront and the Lions Club Park at Woy Woy. Full details are available on the WIA web site as follows:

NEXT Australian contest VK Shires:

The VK SHIRES is always held on the June long weekend, which is the weekend prior to the second Monday of June each year..

Contest Rules

The Australian Shires Contest

Held the weekend prior to the second Monday of June every year.

Starts: 06.00 UTC Saturday, June 8, 2013
Ends: 06.00 UTC Sunday, June 9, 2013Contest Period: 24 hours for all stations, all categories.Objectives: The objectives of this contest are for amateurs around the world to contact as many VK shires as possible in the contest period. IE. VK amateurs are to work the world including VK, whilst the rest of the world can only work VKBands:. 80 Metres 3.500 – 3.700 MHz, 40 Metres 7.000 – 7.250 MHz, 20 Metres 14.000 – 14.300 MHz, 15 Metres 21.000 – 21.350 MHz, 10 Metres 28.000 – 28.600 MHz. Please note there is no 75m dx window permitted for VK stations which means the rest of the world can operate above 3.700 mhz. ie. split operationModes: SSB and CW onlyClass of Competition: For all categories:
Transmitters and receivers for a fixed station must be located within a 500 meter diameter circle or within the property limits of the station licensee’s address, whichever is greater.
If you are a member of a multi op team you can not partake in the contest as an individual in any way. Please note that you are permitted to have up to two transmitted signals going simultaneously.
All contest operation must be within operator’s licence restrictions and conditions, eg power output, bands used, etc.
Single OP stations are only permitted one transmitted signal at a time.
No operator is permitted to use more than one call sign for the entirety of the contest.

A Rover station is a VK station who goes either portable or mobile for the entirety of the contest and activates more than one shire.

Please note that all portable equipment can not be set up prior to the Friday preceding the contest and no earlier than at 00.01utc.

The Rover who moves into a new SHIRE may count the same MULTIPLIER more than once per band as long as the Rover is in a new SHIRE location. Such change in location must be clearly indicated in the log. i.e. A Rover station becomes a new QSO to the stations working them when that STATION changes SHIRE locator.

Please note that in all categories below you may change band and mode as often as you like. You may also work the same station multiple consecutive bands/modes one behind the other. e.g. work VK4XX on 20m SSB then qsy to 15m CW then qsy to 80m CW then qsy to 40m SSB etc

VK Single– OP All Band Rover: Single operator(s) must do all contest related things by themself.VK Multi– Two All Band Rover : Is 2 or more operators with maximum of two transmitted signals at any one time. This category MUST USE Software CONTEST LOGGERS. All operators must be fully listed when the log is submitted.VK Single Op All Band….. same conditions as number 1 aboveVK Multi – Two All Band…. same conditions as number 2 aboveVK Single Op Foundation: Is a VK foundation licensee who must do all contest related things by themself..DX Single Op—All Band….. Is a single op who must do all contest related things by themself..

Exchange:

All VK operators to exchange callsign, RST followed by the VK shire abbreviation as per the official list provided . EG…… VK4XX ……59BU4 or 599BU4

For stations outside VK : The multiplier is the number of different VK shires worked per band. A “VK shire” is counted once per band per mode. IE. If you work it on SSB it can be counted again on CW .To enter the contest you must have worked at least one VK Shire –For VK Stations: The multiplier is each VK shire worked per band and mode as above as well as each CQ Zone worked per band and mode .NB. VARIATION FOR ROVER STATIONS. ROVERS CAN REWORK FROM MULTIPLE LOCATIONS

Contest Scoring

One (1) point per QSO. Phone and CW can be worked on each band with the same station.

Multiply total QSO points times total number of multipliers worked ( ie. If you worked 33 on 80m, 43 on 40m , 16 on 20m, 21 on 15m and 5 on 10m that would be a total of 118)

Submitting Your Log

Log Submissions: Log entries must be submitted by July 1st 2013 to be eligible for awards. Submit your electronic log in the Cabrillo format created by all major logging programs.

Send via e-mail attachment to vkshires@wia.org.au

Subject line: Call sign [used in the contest] only. SINGLE OP stations may submit a paper log, only if they make less than 100 qsos.
VK entrants are reminded to be sure their log indicates their VK shire location. If you go portable or mobile the log must clearly define where you changed location.